Robyn Carter - In Concert!

I have been partaking in some Cochlear Implant research in conjunction with Auckland University. The research is being done to find out if people with Cochlear Implants can learn to sing in tune. So far I've had two singing lessons and I'm really enjoying it.

I have been encouraged by the researcher, that I can sing in tune, and that I have a good quality voice for someone who hasn't done any formal training. I have been given tips to increase my range and to practise to learn to sing in tune. I do need a keyboard so I can practise singing the notes back, but as yet haven't been able to find one.

Anyway - down on the farm, in the middle of nowhere, I found I had a very very appreciative audience, so last night, I gave this appreciative audience a concert - and this is the result....

They heard me.....



So they came closer - they must have liked the sound...



Some were rude at first - turning their backs. They obviously didn't like the song.



So I changed song to something more cheerful and jaunty and wow - I had their attention...



Just to show you I had the whole herd in my hand, hearing me sing....



I could get used to this - I must ask for some moolah next time. Looks like I had a standing ovation too....



Encore...



Encore.... Encore....



I might go on tour!!

The Farm

I'm staying down on the farm in Blenheim, way down in Waihopai Valley, near the spy station. It's a stunning time to be here because of all the spring growth. Everything is so green and blue, and the air is so fresh compared to Auckland. I've been out taking a few photos in the late afternoon.

This is one of the many Macrocarpa trees found throughout New Zealand, particularly on farms for shelters for stock. I used to hate them because they looked so 'untidy'. But now I love them on our landscape as they grow so big and majestic. None of them ever look exactly the same. They are a cypress (Monterey Cypress) introduced from Monterey, California, probably in the 1860's in one of the gold rushes.




Here's another two... (or is that three?)



The farm I'm staying on goes for miles and miles down the valley. It's huge, and apparently worth 12 million dollars. It's for sale if anyone wants to spend that kind of money. Land prices down here are at a premium because of all the grapes - real vineyard country. If you do decide to buy it, please let me know so I can claim the commission on the sale. a 3% commission would do me quite nicely!

You can see the grass tracks we made on our drive over to this spot. The car tracks, one mini motorcycle track and one border collie dog track!



This is looking over to the Richmond Ranges in the background. The row of trees is where the main road is, and the those trees are Australian Bluegums. Makes me feel like I'm in Australia rather than New Zealand when I see those lining the road. No Galahs or Koalas though.



While I'm sitting here writing this, I can hear a Song Thrush repeating her song over and and over again, a cicada in the distance, Carol rattling around in the kitchen, the odd Brk from the chooks, but other than that, it's silent. No cars, no trucks. Just blissful peace and quiet.

Oh - and I hope you notice those blue blue skies!!! Auckland eat your heart out!

My House Started Today :)

Yep - that's right. Driving from the farm up towards Renwick, I noticed some 'dust' billowing in the air and I said - Hmmmmm I think my house has started. So Carol drove me up to my section and sure enough... This is what I found...



Yep - a digger on the lot, digging out the shape of my floor plan. Just take a look at that blue sky though. I hear it RAINED in Auckland today!! It was hot down here, and sunny, and beautiful - as it always is!

Here's that digger again - it's working on my bedroom. You can see the spring growth on the vineyard in the distance.



I jokingly said the guys - 'I thought the roof would be on by now'. They told me it arrives tomorrow!!!! (I don't think so!)



We drove back late afternoon to find the guys had stopped working! I wish they could work day and night so I could get in the house faster! Looks like the concrete slab might go down tomorrow from this photo....



Ohhhh I'm getting excited now, especially seeing I picked out all the colours yesterday. I'll reveal those as they come to hand during the build.

Honesty Rules in Blenheim

I'm so pleased I'm moving to Blenheim. Its such an honest place.

As I got out of the Landrover today at the library, I didn't notice that my cellphone fell out onto the pavement. Being deaf, I don't usually hear things that drop, even with my cochlear implant.

Anyway, Carol and I browsed at the Blenheim Library for half an hour and just as I was leaving, I realised my cellphone was missing. Panic. Looked through my handbag. Went to all the places I had been in the library (and in the process found Carol's handbag that she had left behind!!!)

Mentioned it to the library staff, and they were wonderful. They rang my cellphone number for me and listened to see if it rang in the library. Someone answered it, then hung up quickly. With a sinking heart I thought it had been stolen as someone had answered, and thought of all my contacts in the phone, lost!

We thought we had better cancel it, as otherwise someone could make lots of phone calls on it, and rack up a big bill, but just before I did that at the library, I thought I should go back out to the Landrover and double check I hadn't left it in there.

That person who answered the phone, whoever it was, is the most honest person in New Zealand, they just stuck my phone in the door of the landrover on the outside for us to find it.

I couldn't but think that in Auckland, the phone would have been long gone!!

So - if the person in Blenheim ever reads this, who did this for me - I want them to know that I think they are wonderful, and I thank them from the bottom of my heart.

6 months post switch-on - Cochlear Implant Review

It's now been six months since I was switched on with my third Cochlear Implant. Things are finally starting to go back to what I was used to with my first one, which worked well for 15 years before failing.

My results this time were this..

HINT (open set) Sentences at 3 months: 100%
HINT (open set) Sentences at 6 months: 98%

In background noise +10db SNR at 3 months: 92%
In Background noise +10db SNR at 6 months: 96%

In background noise +5db SNR at 3 months: 24%
In background noise +5db SNR at 6 months: 47%

CNC Words Alone at 3 months: 63%
CNC Words Alone at 6 months: 65%

CNC Words Alone Phonemes at 3 months: 82%
CNC Words Alone Phonemes at 6 moths: 83%

pretty much the same, except a big improvement in background noise, although at one month post switch on that 47% was actually 86% so for some reason I did better back at one month.

I have been practising a lot though. I've been getting audio books out from the library and listening to them - about two per month. At first I needed the book to follow along, but now I don't need that and can just listen to the book while working on photographs. I have to keep listening though, as it's so easy sometimes for my attention to wander and then I get totally lost and have to go back.

I've also bought and borrowed CD's of New Zealand Birdsong. I've been listening to those and relearning the sounds. I used to know them all with my original implant, and they're slowly coming back to me. It has paid off as I was out walking in the country on Saturday and I recognised the bellbirds. So I was thrilled.

I'm finally doing better with the TV as well. I can understand some without text and without the TV cable. With the TV Cable I can follow a TV program well without captions. Still - it's hard work - something to do with the way sound is compressed for the TV. I much prefer captions, but not everything is captioned here in New Zealand, and my last house sitting job had a TV with no captioning ability. In some ways that was good as I was then forced to use and listen without them, and I think that went some way in improving it.

Practise makes perfect.

Vintage Camera #1

I was given 3 vintage cameras last week. They had been sitting in my mother's wardrobe for nearly 40 years. Having sold her house the time had come to purge things she didn't need and I bagged the cameras. My interest in them is purely to do with my interest in all things photographic, however my mother had approached an auction house earlier to see if she could get some money for them, and was told they were worthless.



I have to disagree. They aren't worthless to me, and in researching them, I've found one of them to be very rare and worth quite a lot of money. However, I'm still not interested in selling - I love them for their historic value. Who knows, this may be the start of my vintage camera museum!

I've managed to find out quite a bit about two of the cameras, but this one, the oldest one has me scratching my head to it's make and year.



It looks very similar to the Wirgin 1935 Auta - but when it's opened up, there are marked differences..



You can look at the photo of a Wirgin Auta here

You'll see the body and straps and the same - it's just the lens that is quite different.



As you can see the shutter is a pronto made by the Gauthier company which was was founded in 1902 and started building shutters from 1904. Carl Zeiss who already had a stake in this company as in Compur took over the majority in 1932 - the end of competition in the shutter production in Germany . In 1957 over 3.000 workers produced up to 10.000 shutters daily and from 1970 Gauthier even took over the production of Compur shutters. More on the AGC shutters can be found here





This is the back of it.

The camera is in good working condition and I am going to try and source some film and try it out in the coming weeks.

I'm really interested in finding out what year this camera is and what it actually is. If anyone can help me it would be very much appreciated. I suspect it's circa 1935 through to 1945.

I knew there was a reason...